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Drawing upon previously unpublished government data obtained through the Mexican freedom of information system, interviews with key Mexican officials and accounts from civil-society organizations, a new report from the Migration Policy Institute (MPI) assesses Mexico’s legal framework for child protection and its treatment of unaccompanied children, from apprehension through detention and adjudication of international protection claims. The report, Strengthening Mexico’s Protection of Central American Unaccompanied Minors in Transit, finds that while Mexico has undertaken ambitious reform of its child protection system, implementation of these policies is uneven and ongoing.

The UMass scholars leading the World Wide University Network's Climate-Resilient Open Partnership for Food Security  (CROP-FS) project have published correspondence in the current issue of Nature calling for early and intentional integration of social science in food security efforts. ISSR Director Laurel Smith-Doerr serves on the CROP-FS leadership team, where she and Sociology Doctoral student Timothy Sacco have been instrumental in bringing social science insights to highlight the social processes and institutions underlying scientific collaborations for food security.

Vanessa Adel presenting on climate change publics

What are we called on to do as social science scholars in the face of catastrophic global climate change – and how are we called to do it? 

The five panelists who presented their research at the November 6 ISSR seminar on social science research engagement with climate change and sustainability have shared their presentation slides here for further discussion and dissemination. Please join us in an ongoing effort to promote research collaboration across disciplines, topics and national boundaries on this urgent topic.